Sidra

Sidra is one of two main characters of A Closed and Common Orbit. She is an iteration of Lovelace, an AI program usually intended for long haul ships. Her former installation lived on the Wayfarer as Lovey.

Character backstory
After Lovey takes critical damage during the Hedra Ka incident in The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Kizzy and Jenks decide to try a hard reset as last resort. There is a fifty-fifty chance that Lovey will recognize and reintegrate her corrupted memory files when restarting and coming back as herself but unfortunately, the attempt fails and Lovelace comes into being as a fresh installation without any memories about her former personality.

Not all sapients in the GC consider AI s to be people, but the crew of the Wayfarer does and grieves for Lovey like a crew member. Moreover, she and Jenks had been a couple. They even purchased a body kit (strictly illegal in the GC) to be able to have a more tangible relationship. On Pepper's suggestion, the new Lovelace choses to leave the ship in the body kit in order to spare the crew being constantly reminder of Lovey by her voice and presence.

Appearance and Personality
The appearance of the body kit Sidra uses was decided on by Lovey, and was intended to not stand out in a crowd of Exodans. The kit has copper skin that doesn't appear to get much sun, curly black hair that is cut short, and dark brown eyes.

Character development
Sidra lives with Pepper and Blue on Coriol, a neutral colony. She chooses the name Sidra, an Earthen name that will not arouse suspicions.

Sidra faces questions concerning body image/body dysphoria, belonging and purpose during the cause of A Closed and Common Orbit. She is having a hard time to adapt to the body kit, as it causes several challenges to the way she was laid out: Instead of having cameras in all the rooms and on the outer hull of a ship, the body kit can only see in one direction at once. The body kit doesn't have wireless linking access and while it would techincally be possible, Pepper strongly opposes it because it would stand out too much in society. Thus, Sidra has to manage her storage space which is hard to do for her. AIs come with a so called honesty protocol, which forces them to obey to direct requests and always answer direct questions truthfully. This poses the thread of revealing herself to strangers and facing destruction of the body kit and her installation.

Sidra is friends with the Aeluon tattoo artist named Tak and decides to get a tattoo.